July 15, 2025 • 59 mins
Rita Fox and her wife, Katie, embarked on a life-changing journey through England and Scotland, tracing their ancestors' footsteps and discovering not only their family history but also unexpected connections that continue to enrich their lives today.
• Begin ancestry research by building upon family knowledge and using online resources like Ancestry.com, FindAGrave.com, and ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
• Contact local family history societies before your trip – they can provide invaluable assistance and access to records not available online
• Balance your itinerary between genealogy research, sightseeing, and necessary downtime
• Consider becoming a member of historical societies in ancestral locations to deepen your connections
• Book essential experiences like the Caledonian Sleeper train and Edinburgh Castle early access tours well in advance
• Be prepared for emotional moments when standing where ancestors once stood
• Reach out to potential distant relatives before travelling – you may end up meeting family you never knew existed
• Visit museums that show period-appropriate homes to understand how ancestors lived
• Remember that you are an ambassador for your home country – bring your best self along with your luggage
If you're dreaming of turning your family tree into a travel route, start your research now and be open to the serendipitous connections that often arise when travelling with a genealogical focus.
⭐️ Guest - Rita Fox
📝 Show Notes - Episode 158
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #127 - Solo Travel in London
- Episode # 103 - From Lands End to John O'Groats
- Episode # 98 - From Liverpool to London and beyond
Join us on tour in 2026 - for more info, contact us at info@uktravelplanning.com
🎟️ Book a Walks or Devour Tour in London
Want to make your London trip unforgettable? From early access to the Tower of London to food tours through Borough Market, Walks and Devour offer small-group, expert-led tours we personally love and recommend.
➡️ Click here to book your tour
🎤 Leave us a voice message via SpeakPipe
➡️ Sponsor our show by clicking here
➡️ Leave us a tip by clicking here
Work With Us - Contact info@uktravelplanning.com for brand partnerships and business inquiries.
Thank you ❤️
Disclaimer: Some outbound links financially benefit the podcast through affiliate programs. Using our links is a small way to support the show at no additional cost. I only endorse products, programs, and services I use and would recommend to close friends and family. Thank you for the support!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tracy Collins (00:00):
Planning a UK trip around your family history.
In this episode I chat withRita Fox, who recently explored
England and Scotland with herspouse on a genealogy-themed
adventure.
She shares how they researchedtheir ancestry, built an
itinerary around meaningfullocations, and what it was like
to walk in their ancestors'footsteps.
If you're dreaming of turningyour family tree into a travel
(00:21):
route, this episode is packedwith tips and inspiration.
Intro (00:25):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this podcast, tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:48):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Tracy Collins (01:06):
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the UK
Travel Planner Podcast.
In today's episode, I'm sharinga trip report with a difference
.
Rita Fox recently travelled tothe UK with her wife, Katie, on
a journey centred around theirfamily histories, exploring the
places their ancestors oncelived, uncovering personal
stories and connecting withdistant relatives along the way.
(01:27):
This is a lovely, lovely tripreport from Rita and it's just a
beautiful example of howgenealogy can shape a travel
experience, adding layers ofmeaning and emotion to every
stop, and you will understandwhat I mean when you listen to
this episode.
I began by asking Rita to tellus a little bit about herself,
where she's from and whatinspired them to plan their
(01:47):
first ever trip to the UK aroundtheir family histories.
Welcome onto the podcast, Rita.
It's absolutely fantastic tomeet you and chat to you today.
I feel like I know you.
I've already said that becausewe were communicating when you
were planning your trip andduring your trip as well, which
is fantastic.
So can you tell us a bit aboutyourself, where you're from and
what inspired you and yourspouse Katie to plan a trip to
(02:10):
the UK around your familyhistories?
Rita Fox (02:16):
Well, thank you so much, Tracy.
Yes, my name is Rita Fox.
I'm 68 years old.
I live, along with my wife,Katie, in the United States.
We're located in the state ofMinnesota and we live actually
in a suburb of the city ofMinneapolis, Minnesota.
We decided that really it wastime for us to prioritize travel
(02:37):
, and the UK was on the top ofour list.
I had made family history tripskind of part of my routine some
years ago before I met Katie,and I found that it was just a
really fun way to meet people,to be able to put your own
family's story within thehistory and culture of a
(02:58):
location, and so, since we werethinking of taking a trip to the
UK, I thought well, you know,maybe we could duplicate this
and do some genealogy.
So that's basically how we gotstarted.
Tracy Collins (03:10):
Oh, I absolutely love it and I've got it.
You know, I was born in the UKbut I've got family from
Scotland, I've got family fromCornwall, I've got family from
Derbyshire and it's amazing whenyou start going down this kind
of rabbit hole of finding outwhere you're from, where your
roots are from, that makes itamazing.
So when did you first startexploring your family history
and at what point did it becomea kind of travel goal for you?
Rita Fox (03:34):
You are right.
It is absolutely a rabbit holeFor me.
I knew a lot about my UKancestry in Scotland and England
and Northern Ireland, but forKatie all she really had was a
handwritten family tree chartthat she'd filled out some years
ago, and she really didn't knowmuch about her own genealogy.
So one day we took a trip tothis little rural cemetery and
(03:58):
found her great-grandparents'headstone and it read George
Whiteford from Linlithgow,scotland, and Katie had not
realized at all that herWhiteford side of her family was
from Scotland, so we decided todig deeper.
Tracy Collins (04:13):
Absolutely perfect.
And you say your family kind oftraces back to Scotland,
northern Ireland and England andyou'd already kind of done that
research.
So how did you go aboutresearching the places that your
ancestors came from, kind of?
What tools, websites orarchives would you recommend?
I mean, I know I've done a bitof this myself, but I'm really
(04:34):
interested because you've kindof gone a bit deeper than I have
.
So I'm really interested tofind out.
You know how you did it.
Rita Fox (04:40):
Well, I hope you'll keep in mind that I am just
really a very amateur, very,very amateur genealogist.
It's just a hobby that I'vedabbled in over time.
Sometimes I'll set it aside foryears at a time, but I was very
fortunate that I had familymembers before me who'd done
quite a bit of work, so I wasable to build upon that was able
(05:07):
to build upon that.
Research has changed so muchsince I first started doing this
in the mid-1980s.
There's just so much availablenow on the internet that was not
available before.
So previously you know, as youprobably know this yourself
you've just had to spend timegoing to a local library, museum
, government records building,but now so much of that is
accessible online.
Not everything, there's stillsome records that haven't been
(05:29):
uploaded yet, but it really hasjust accelerated the pace of
what you can learn.
As far as websites, there's anumber of them available.
Some are paid subscription,others are free.
I've primarily used Ancestrycom, findagravecom,
scotlandspeoplegovuk andnationalarchivesgovuk, so
(05:58):
there's a lot of locations thatwill have their own family
history societies will havetheir own family history
societies.
So if you've got thatinformation available, it really
helps before you go, certainlyto start all this before you
start on your trip.
I found that researching the UKis so much easier than a lot of
countries.
There are so many good recordskept.
(06:19):
A lot of them have survived andthey're in English, which is
really a benefit for me who onlyspeaks English.
So this would be things likecensus records, church and civil
recordings of births, marriage,death, military records, wills,
immigrations all that kind ofstuff.
I would if you would.
(06:42):
I'd like to just offer onelittle bit of caution, because
there's a lot of these websitesthat have individual subscribers
.
They'll upload their owninformation.
Sometimes it's very accurate,sometimes it isn't, but the
problem is if somebody postssomething that isn't correct and
the others simply copy andpaste the same information.
(07:03):
Simply copy and paste the sameinformation.
For example, on AncestrycomI've come across a couple times
there's a date of birth of 2014listed for me.
So, while other people's youknow their undocumented posts
are great clues, they're notnecessarily facts, but, however,
one advantage of something likeAncestrycom is that you get to
(07:28):
really see who else isresearching the same people that
you are.
So what I did was I sent outsome messages to people that
were researching my family andalso Katie's family, so, of
course, they would be distantcousins.
One of the biggest surprises isactually once we were already
on route on our trip and one ofthem responded a man named
(07:52):
Robert.
He's a distant cousin ofKatie's and he asked if he and
his wife could meet with us.
So that was just a reallypleasant surprise.
Tracy Collins (08:02):
That's fabulous, I like to say you don't
necessarily, when you start onthis journey, you know that
these sort of things are goingto happen, do you?
So it's fantastic and I mustadmit, when I did a little bit
of my family history, what wasreally nice when I started on it
is that there were kind ofthings that had been passed down
, like my grandfather hadmentioned about his aunt that
(08:23):
she'd had an accident on a farmwhen she was 16 and it had a
huge impact on the family and Iwas able to trace that and then
actually see her deathcertificate and find out a
little bit more about what hadhappened to her, because her
name has actually been passeddown the family from generation
to generation and it kind ofbrought to life a story you know
relative.
So I just think it's absolutelyfascinating to do.
(08:48):
Now, once you had your familyhistory locations, how did you
go about designing youritinerary around that?
Rita Fox (08:57):
That was really a challenge, but actually a fun
challenge.
I liken this to puttingtogether a giant jigsaw puzzle.
We knew how long we were goingto be gone 17 days and we knew
we'd have to prioritize whichlocations we'd visit.
We could never get to them all,so we picked out about six
(09:18):
locations.
So then the challenge was tocoordinate like which family
history centers were open onwhich days, as well as when our
friend, our host in Inverness,was available, and then also to
squeeze in some sightseeingdestinations too.
So finally, we factored inwhich geographical
(09:39):
considerations there were.
So we weren't doing a lot ofbacktracking, and so what we
decided on was an itinerarystarting with an overnight
flight into London.
We spent two days in London, wetook the overnight train, the
Caledonian Sleeper, to Inverness, two nights in Inverness, then
we had a week based out ofEdinburgh, and then we went back
(10:01):
to London for three days andoff we went back home oh, I
think you planned it really welland you didn't do too much
backtracking, and I love thefact that you used the Caledonia
sleeper, which I know we'lltalk about in a little bit.
Tracy Collins (10:14):
um, but how did you balance?
Obviously you had the ancestrystops that you wanted to include
in your itinerary, but I'm sureyou also want to do some
general sightseeing and a bit ofdowntime in those 17 days, so
how did you balance that?
Rita Fox (10:27):
That was also a challenge, you know, when you've
got a limited amount of timeeven though 17 days is quite a
good time, at least in my worldthere was so much we wanted to
see and do, but yet we didn'twant to end up being so tired
that we weren't enjoying of it.
So what we did was we locked inthe reservations we had to, and
(10:48):
then we filled in around itwith a list of just more
flexible activities for otherdays and times, and that seemed
to work well.
There were a couple of dayswhere we really just hit the
wall.
We were tired and we decided toscale back what we were doing.
An example of that is we had alate evening in London attending
(11:08):
the Ceremony of the Keys.
I know that's an activity youreally enjoy, but then the next
morning, rather than getting upearly to catch a train to bath,
we just decided to start later.
So we did start quite a bitlater and we followed by a short
walk from our hotel over to theBritish Museum, which we
(11:29):
absolutely loved, but barelyscratched the surface of it.
So you know, we just took thethe things that we had to see
because you had to getreservations, and then just
filled in the rest.
Tracy Collins (11:40):
I was going to say.
So what did so?
Obviously, some of the thingsyou would have had to have
booked in advance.
So what sort of things did yousay, right, we need to get those
locked in.
And what sort of things did youleave flexible?
Rita Fox (11:50):
We knew where we wanted to stay.
We'd found a company that hadsome really nice apartments for
great location and relativelyreasonable.
We wanted to have cookingfacilities, just for some
(12:12):
dietary reasons for both of us.
But the problem was this placewas booked out months in advance
.
So we knew we wanted to staythere, but we weren't sure which
days, and fortunately thecompany advises just book out as
many days as you possibly canand then, as your itinerary gets
a little bit more firmed upthan just release the days.
(12:34):
So that worked out nicely.
So then the next thing I thinkwe booked was our plane tickets
and accommodations in London.
The other advanced things wehad to book was Caledonian
sleepers.
You know that's a must to getthat ahead of time.
At Balmoral Castle we booked aguided private Land Rover tour
(12:57):
of the state, which waswonderful A car rental in
Inverness let's see the DiscoverReal London Black Cab Tours,
and then a couple of theappointments, like at the
Paisley Heritage Center let'ssee Ceremony of the Keys.
Of course we had to book thatahead of time.
(13:18):
There were only a couple ofdinner reservations that we did
previously book, and that was atJamie Oliver's Catherine Street
Restaurant in London for aproper Sunday roast, which I
know is something that you raveabout.
And then the highlight as faras food goes was at a place
called the Preston Field Housein Edinburgh.
(13:38):
We booked at the RhubarbRestaurant there and of course
we had to get our Brit Reel passbefore we left home too.
I know that you had told me besure and book your ticket for
Edinburgh Castle, and then, afew days after you mentioned
that, your guest was Charliefrom Take Walks and she talked
about a new tour that providedearly access to Edinburgh Castle
(14:02):
.
That turned out to be justfantastic, having a small group
the the castle basically toourselves, so that that was
great.
But then we we filled in withthe flexible locations, um
things like sterling castle.
Now we were there in may, so wedidn't feel we need to book
ahead of time.
I can't vouch for july andaugust, but may it was fine.
Tracy Collins (14:25):
Um borough market , of course, the british museum,
georgian house in edinburgh, umlondon eye, the thames river
cruise in, and then finally,even song at westminster abbey
yeah, you kind of went flexiblewith those, uh, those things and
I think it's important that youdid book in the the things that
you mentioned, things like thecaledonian sleeper.
(14:45):
We've actually just we bookedthat last month for our daughter
because she'll be there inAugust and she's going actually
London, edinburgh, on it.
But we were like you need tobook it, you need to get it
booked.
And then she was panicking,thinking she hadn't booked it.
So we sat down with her andwent right, we'll sort that out
with you.
And also, when you were in,when you did the walks to
(15:06):
Edinburgh Castle, you also sawCharlie, which was fantastic.
Rita Fox (15:09):
Yeah, she said to say hi to you.
She's just a very nice youngwoman.
She just happened to be there.
It was actually another tourguide, but she just happened
that Sunday morning to be outthere.
So yeah, it was nice to get totalk to her Great person.
Tracy Collins (15:22):
That's lovely, and it's just sometimes nice to
meet people that you listen toon the podcast in real life.
Yes, exactly so.
Did you contact any of thelocal churches, archives or
historical societies ahead ofyour visit?
Because?
Rita Fox (15:40):
I guess you wanted to get involved and visit some of
these people and chat to them.
Yes, absolutely In fact.
Not only did I contact them,but I actually became a member
of a couple of these groups.
One was it's called the CentralScotland Family History Society
and also a group of peoplecalled the Friends of Worreston
Cemetery.
It's in Edinburgh, and reallyeverybody that we came in
(16:01):
contact with was so helpful.
They were generous throughtheir time.
One example of this is at theWest Lothian Family Society.
They're open a couple of days aweek for drop-in visitors.
So we showed up the day wevisited.
The two volunteers on siteliterally dropped everything
they were doing simply to assistKatie with her Whiteford family
(16:24):
history, and then they foundsome additional information and
one of the volunteers, alan,actually sent us several
follow-up emails after our visit.
Another place that was veryhelpful was the Paisley History
Center in Paisley, scotland.
So a month before a trip I'dactually given them some
(16:45):
information to work on, so freeof charge, they did a thorough
review of the porter side of myfamily, the genealogy.
So I booked a couple hoursession at the center and when I
arrived, their staff person,brian.
He'd already set up a largetable.
It had the documents, the booksand all pulled from the
(17:06):
archives related specifically tomy family history.
So it was really really helpfuland kind.
The other group that I mentioned, the Friends of Worst and
Cemetery this is a reallyfascinating place.
It's one of the world's firstpark-like non-denominational
(17:26):
cemeteries.
It was built in a very grandVictorian style but
unfortunately years of privateownership have led to really
being overgrown and withvegetation and disrepair.
So a group of volunteers juststepped up and they go there and
they trim around headstones.
So I contacted the group'sleader, carolyn, ahead of time
(17:48):
and she helped me researchexactly where my relatives were
buried their lair, their plots.
So I said can I come and helpyou on one of the Saturdays
you're working?
And when I arrived, carolineand the other volunteers, they
directed me right to where theBrimmer family headstone was.
They'd already worked to clearaway the brush and they're just
(18:12):
amazing people and they justsaid well, there you are, meet
your ancestors.
Tracy Collins (18:20):
So it was just beautiful, it's wonderful, yeah,
and just it's just fantasticthat you had so much help and
that these people are out thereoffering their support and help,
for free, for you to be able totrace your family ancestry and
kind of get in touch, and that'swhat it feels like, doesn't it?
It feels like you're getting intouch over the generations and
over the centuries from thepeople that went before us,
which I always I just alwaysfind fascinating.
(18:43):
There's just something somagical about it and I know
you've mentioned that as well.
There's something about youfeel like you can touch the past
and you have that connection,don't you?
Rita Fox (18:52):
Yeah, I really, really had a sense of gratitude for
the generations that have comebefore and some of their
struggles and their life choices, especially in context of what
might be going on politically oreconomically, religious-wise.
You know, why did they emigrate?
What were the factors that ledto that?
(19:12):
So, even though we'll neverfully answer those questions,
yeah, like you said, you do feelvery much in touch with
generations that came before.
Tracy Collins (19:22):
Absolutely, and I know I'm kind of touching a
little bit on my own familyhistory, but when I found out
that part of my family came fromCornwall and then I realised
that they'd come from the tinmines and then moved up to the
northeast to the coal mines, itwas just fascinating looking at
the reasons why and actually howtough people had it, really,
how tough our ancestors had itand the tough decisions they had
(19:44):
to make just to simply survivein a lot of cases.
Anyway, we'll talk about yourhighlights now, because I'm sure
there were so many amazingthings that you did.
So can you walk us through justsome of the highlights for you
and Katie please?
Rita Fox (20:02):
Absolutely, and this is some of the highlights that
would be above and beyond thefamily history related
highlights that you know I wouldthink majority of your
listeners would find more incommon than might be the boring
parts of my specific familyhistory.
But first and foremost I wouldsay Westminster Abbey.
The very last night of our trip, the last full day in London
(20:26):
before we returned home, we wentto the Evensong service at
Westminster.
It was really very moving.
It's an actual church service.
There's some readings and themajority of it is sung.
In my opinion, I think evenpeople that are only interested
(20:49):
in history or interested inchoral music would really find
it a valuable experience and itwas such a peaceful ending to
the last day of our trip.
I think I already mentioned thePreston Field House in Edinburgh
.
We had dinner there.
It was absolutely delicious,elegant, historic.
I mean this place has it all.
It's a several centuries oldlocation.
(21:13):
It was a private residence andnow it's a hotel and restaurant,
but it's this really genteelcountry estate that's plucked
literally in the middle of thecity of Edinburgh.
When we were talking to theconcierge outside the front door
, he pointed out a bench thatBenjamin Franklin enjoyed
sitting at during hispost-American Revolutionary War
(21:37):
diplomatic tour, he had anextended stay at Preston Field
House.
So, for my money, any placethat has hosted Sir Elton John,
sir Winston Churchill andBenjamin Franklin, that's good
enough for me.
So yeah, it was delicious.
Yeah, ceremony of the Keys.
I know that that's a favoriteof yours.
(21:58):
That truly is just livinghistory at its best.
You feel like you'reparticipating in history.
We certainly enjoyed the RoyalYacht Britannia.
I think the guided, self-guidedaudio tour they have is
outstanding and I think it'ssomething that would appeal to
(22:19):
people if you're interested inmaritime activities or the Navy,
or if you're simply justinterested in the Royals,
there's a little bit ofsomething for everybody at
Britannia.
Um, we visited Stirling Castle.
Tracy Collins (22:32):
Go ahead oh yeah, no, I was not.
I was gonna, um, just say aswell, because Doug and I
actually went for the first timeto roll Yacht Britannia last
September and I was alsoincredibly impressed um, because
I'm not a massive fan of audiotours I'm always like I prefer
to talk to people than haveheadphones on but actually it's
really very well done.
I thought it was.
It was excellent and worth avisit out for sure, so I was
(22:54):
glad to.
I was glad to see that was onyour list yeah, no, I, I agree
100 percent.
Rita Fox (23:01):
Um, let's see.
We, uh, we went to sterling andalthough it's not nearly as
often visited as EdinburghCastle, I think we found it to
be equally interested with anequally fascinating history and
its interactive displays Ithought were excellent.
So, yeah, that was high on ourlist.
(23:21):
As you know, we went on aDiscover Real London Black Cab
tour.
We can't recommend it highenough.
We had our tour guide, mark wasjust phenomenal.
It's just a first-class way tosee the city and especially for
us as first-time visitors, wejust felt like total VIPs being
(23:44):
taken around the city.
So, yeah, I would absolutelyrecommend that.
Another highlight is when wewent to Balmoral Castle.
It was Katie and I, our friendBetty from Inverness and her
very wonderful friend Dave, andthe four of us went on a
two-hour private guided LandRover tour around Balmoral
(24:05):
Estate.
It was excellent.
Our guide, sally Ann, she justwent above and beyond and you
know, and we told her afterwardswe said you know, sally Ann,
for you this is a workday, thisis a Wednesday, but for us this
is a once in a lifetime eventand thank you for making it so
special for us.
So yeah, just to see the innerworkings of the estate itself.
(24:29):
What all it's like.
You get to see the red stagsthat you know the royals hunt
and then after they kill thestag, they dress it, and Katie
had a venison burger at the cafe.
That was one of the red stagsthat were hunted on site.
So yeah, that was great.
And certainly Edinburgh Castle.
(24:50):
What can you say about thatplace that hasn't already been
said?
It's not only the tour of it,but we had a.
Our accommodations on PrincessStreet in Edinburgh had a
magnificent view of the castle.
So part of our just ourentertainment in the evening was
just staring out the window atthe castle.
(25:13):
It was just memorized.
I'm sure there's many times inthis trip that we've looked like
a couple of kids in a candystore, just you know, gazing
like, yeah, there goes thetourists again.
They're looking up withamazement in their face.
But you know, so be it.
But then, besides that, therewere a lot of just really
unexpected moments that stayedwith us Our friend in Inverness,
(25:37):
betty.
She took us for a long drivealong Loch Ness and no, we
didn't see Nessie, but we wentto her daughter Wendy's farm and
on just real short notice,wendy graciously welcomed us to
her farm, showed us her horses.
It was just such a peaceful andlovely farm in this deep valley
(25:58):
.
Just wandering around Inverness, going to one of the most
unique bookstores I've ever seenmost unique bookstores I've
ever seen.
And yes, there are people inScotland that just on a
Wednesday, walking down thestreet are wearing a kilt.
That doesn't happen in the US.
He was just out shopping.
There was no wedding going onor anything.
(26:20):
So I'm sure again we will looklike tourists just staring.
But that was, that's fine, youknow, and just the other things.
Trying to take a shower on amoving train Well, it worked, it
was interesting, but yeah, itworked.
And there's other things I thinkthat tourists see that people
(26:40):
in their own environment don'tsee.
In other words, they've seen ita million times so they don't
see it anymore.
An example of this we weresitting on High Street in
Linlithgow and I'll keep in mindvery historic.
There's this huge cathedral,there's this palace that's in
ruins now, but it's where MaryQueen of Scots was born.
So we're taking all thishistory in.
(27:02):
And then what goes by in frontof us on High Street?
But a big green John Deeretractor pulling a load of hay or
grass clippings or somethingyou know.
So for me, as an American,having grown up in a farm,
there's nothing more iconic thana big John Deere tractor.
But you're seeing the modernworld in the same frame, the
(27:24):
same photo that we took alongwith history.
It just pops out at youeverywhere, but of course this
is a modern country that justkeeps chugging along, so you're
going to see modern things rightnext to history absolutely it's
(27:44):
all juxtaposed, isn't it?
Tracy Collins (27:45):
and it's funny because in London a lot of
people complain about the Londoneye because they kind of say
it's a bit of an eyesore.
But I'm like that's London.
London has always evolved andthere's always new things, new
things that potentially notgoing to like the shards and
other one people go, but it'slike that.
That.
That's how London has been forgeneral, that's how the UK has
been forever, for thousands ofyears.
It just kind of it develops.
And and it's an interestingpoint as well, because I I I
(28:07):
hear a lot of people kind of goor, uh, you know, come and see
london like a local or come andsee like, but actually sometimes
I don't want to go like a local, I want to, I want to have a
visitor's eyes on things,because once when you're a local
place, you you forget, youdon't see the things exactly
like you're seeing.
Rita Fox (28:21):
And and I think it's really interesting because doug
and I appreciate so much nowthat we actually don't live in
the UK, we live in Australia,which people find a bit strange,
but we go back with thosevisitor eyes on as well and
appreciate things that weprobably didn't see, I think you
made a good point, especiallyabout the London Eye, because
what I felt, looking out the eyeitself, was just how much the
(28:45):
River Thames has to do with whyLondon is where it's at Like,
for example, for me, where Ilive, the reason the city of
Minneapolis, minnesota, is whereit's at is because of the
Mississippi River.
But when you're in the LondonEye, you get a sense of okay, I
get it now, why is it here?
Yeah, this makes total sense ofhow it all grew up.
Tracy Collins (29:08):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I totally agree with that, withthat.
Now, what about we'll go backto the, the you know kind of
tracing uh that your ancestries,and were there any emotional or
surprising moments when youvisit the places?
Uh connected to your ancestors?
Rita Fox (29:21):
I would say that emotional moments really define
this whole trip.
One example is we went to aplace called Polkhamid Park in
Scotland.
It's about halfway betweenGlasgow and Edinburgh.
It's a site of where it wasformerly a huge estate and about
160 years ago there was agamekeeper in the state and it
(29:45):
happened to be Katie's secondgreat-grandfather, james
Whiteford.
The huge mansion house that wasthere is long gone, but the
servants' quarters, thosecourtyard buildings and the muse
, the barns they're still thereand that's where Katie's family
would have lived and worked.
So when we arrived, waitingthere to introduce themselves
(30:07):
was, I mentioned, katie'sdistant cousin, robert, and his
wife Jillian.
So we bonded right away and,like I said, there were a number
of amazing family connections.
Robert's mother's name wasactually Katie Whiteford and
then after we got home, one ofKatie's nieces said well, you
(30:27):
know, why don't we send them aninvitation to our little
Whiteford family reunion we havein Minnesota every year?
Not that they would necessarilycome, but we just want them to
know that they're welcome.
Well, sure enough, they arecoming this August, making the
trip from Scotland to aWhiteford family reunion here in
Minnesota.
So we're just delighted aboutthat, that we're going to get to
(30:50):
host them.
That was just really exciting.
That's fabulous.
Yeah, it was.
There were a lot of emotionalmoments that really just kind of
caught us off guard.
For example, when we were atthe Edinburgh Castle we went
into one of the buildings thiswas after the tour, so we were
still very much alone on thecastle grounds.
We went into one of thebuildings this was after the
tour, so we were still very muchalone on the castle grounds but
(31:10):
we went into a building calledthe Scottish War Memorial, so it
was just the two of us thereand one staff person.
It's a very atmosphericbuilding, I guess is how I'd
describe it.
So we asked the staff if hecould direct us to the memorial
area for the Highland LightInfantry in World War I.
So he took us there.
(31:32):
He opened this big book and hefound the name of a Private,
whiteford from Whitburn,scotland.
He was killed in France 1915.
He's a first cousin of Katie'sgreat-grandpa and just reading
the details of that were prettyemotional For me, just visiting.
(31:52):
A couple of residences reallystand out.
They're now museums but yetthey're decorated in the style
and in the same neighborhoodwhere my ancestors would have
lived.
One of these places in Paisleyit's called the Weaver's Cottage
and the other in Edinburgh iscalled the Georgian House, and
so these two places reallycontrasted a difference in
(32:15):
wealth and in status.
This little humble Weaver'sCottage, just a simple one room
with a kitchen, hearth and beds,all in the same room to
accommodate like four adults andfour children.
But it was in the exactneighborhood, the same
occupation of my family thatimmigrated from Paisley.
(32:37):
So you know, you compare thatto the very ornately decorated
Georgian house in Edinburgh, inthe city's new town, and that's
where, 150 years ago, my familythat were part of the legal
profession they lived in thatneighborhood.
So just two very differentexistences, but I really felt a
(32:58):
very, very strong connection toboth places.
Tracy Collins (33:03):
Yeah, I can imagine and it's to say say it
again, it's kind of putting itinto perspective.
You know where your ancestorslived and and what their lives
were like, being able to see itas well, and that's what I love
about.
There's so many places in theUK where you can go and see what
the houses were like, what itwas like inside, what the
furniture was like, just so youcan stand there and kind of you
can feel it can't you really goin.
(33:24):
It's like okay, so this is.
You know, 200 years ago arelative of mine, an ancestor of
mine, would have stood in inthis, in this kitchen, preparing
food or whatever, uh, with thisrange and you know, and then
we've got our air fryers andmicrowaves in it kind of go, wow
, you know, kind of puts it inperspective.
But, um, what about, uh, werethere any locations that left a
(33:45):
big impression on you and Katie,just either for the genealogy
side of things or just astravelers?
Rita Fox (33:53):
Everything, but really more than any one single
location.
It was just the sum total, thereason why we've decided we
needed to travel moreinternationally.
It's a reminder of how smalland interconnected the world
really is.
I don't know, tracy, if you'veever noticed when you're
(34:15):
traveling that the first thingsthat stand out are the
differences, whether it'slanguage, dialect, scenery, food
, transportation.
But the longer you're there,what's really striking is all
the similarities in humanity,how much we really are alike.
(34:35):
Because, I'll be candid with you, we had a little bit of
trepidation about travelinginternationally as Americans,
and albeit it was a very smallsample size, but we were so
grateful and heartened to knowhow well received we are by the
UK residents.
They were able to reallydifferentiate their affection
(34:56):
for Americans from maybe some oftheir views of what's currently
going on in America.
So we were really, reallyheartened by that.
You know, the world is a smallplace.
This past week here inMinnesota, we had a very, very
tragic event that happened withthe assassination of a couple of
state political leaders, and wehad people from the UK that
(35:25):
we'd known, had heard about itinternationally and reached out,
just, you know, wanted to makesure we're okay and so, and so
yes, the world is a small place,for sure yeah, absolutely 100.
Tracy Collins (35:31):
And, as you say, we travel all the time and
you're exactly right.
It's, uh, you go and thedifferences are the things that
you notice, but ultimately, thelonger there, you just know that
we're all the same.
We're all the same, we all wantthe same things, and you know,
and, and that's that's well,that's how I I love meeting
people and getting to knowpeople and find out about their
(35:53):
lives, and, and that's whatmotivates me to travel, I want
to know, I want to know howother people live and what their
lives are like, because, butultimately, we're all, we all
want the same things.
So, yeah, I'm so glad that youhad that experience, uh, when
you were, when you're in the uk,that's it, the same hopes, the
same dreams, the same fears.
Rita Fox (36:12):
But.
But what is different is I havea new appreciation for what you
do, tracy, and all thetraveling you do.
It's tiring, it's wonderful,but my gosh, I how many times I
thought how do tracy and doug do?
And they're catching flightshere and there, and oh, my word,
yeah.
So I have a new appreciationfor you.
Tracy Collins (36:32):
It's true.
You know, we've been askedsince we got back cause we had
nine months of pretty full ontravel and everybody's like, oh,
you must want some downtime.
And I'm like, no, I could geton a flight and go again, do it
all again.
I absolutely, absolutely loveit.
Honestly, let's talk about what.
Now you're looking back becauseyou've been back a little bit,
a little while.
What was it that made this tripfeel so magical?
Rita Fox (36:56):
You know I try not to overuse that word magical, but
it really is what comes to mindwith this trip.
As we started getting into theplanning that progressed, there
were so many coincidences, theselittle serendipitous I don't
know if you want to call themsynchronicities oh my gosh.
(37:18):
And I have experienced thisbefore when traveling with a
genealogy focus.
But here's one quick example.
One of my ancestors, a womannamed Janet Watt, she'd left
Scotland with her family.
She was a small girl I do havea photo of her from later in her
life, but my thoughts wouldjust often return to her and
(37:43):
shortly before our trip, itoccurred to me that the day we
were leaving home would havebeen Janet Watts' 200th birthday
.
So just time and again, as wewalked in our ancestors'
footsteps, I just had a feelingof connection, sitting in the
sanctuary of the Church of theHoly Root in Sterling.
(38:06):
This is the place where Mary,queen of Scots, had her
coronation, but it's also whereJanet Watt's family would have
worshipped.
So just being there, it wasreally, really, really moving.
But this strong sense ofconnection occurred both during
the planning process and alsovisiting the different locations
(38:30):
.
I don't know what it's about.
I have no idea how this allcomes about.
You know, whether humans havethe same kind of genetic memory
or corporate memory that bees do.
I have no idea, but I just wantto experience it and enjoy it,
and we certainly did.
I know that Katie and I areprobably going to travel a lot
(38:51):
in the future, but it's going tobe really hard to top this trip
for sure.
Tracy Collins (38:57):
It does sound like you just had the best time,
honestly.
So, rita, what would you say tosomeone who's considering
planning a trip like this butdoesn't know where to start?
Rita Fox (39:06):
Sure, if you were to talk to professional
genealogists, I think they wouldmostly tell you that tracing
your roots begins with yourselfand you work backwards, like,
for example, if your parents areliving, talk to them, ask them
what they know.
If they aren't get their datesof birth and death what did they
(39:27):
do for a living?
Where did they live, same withyour grandparents Then I would
recommend trying to plug thisinformation into a database like
answeristrycom or FamilySearch,myheritage, findmypast.
These websites will give you anidea of who's researching the
same people.
Like I said, then you can kindof reach out to these other
(39:52):
people.
Which of this information canyou verify and back it up with
some records that are online?
From that you can try to findout when did your family
immigrate from the UK, where didthey live before they
immigrated, and then you canreach out to the local family
(40:12):
history societies or otherresources.
But ideally this is somethingthat should be done prior to
your trip.
I tell people that I probablyput more hours into planning
this trip than I have all othertrips in my life combined, just
because that was so researchheavy with the ancestry, but
(40:35):
it's rewarding to do that.
You're never going to find outeverything.
For every question that getsanswered about your ancestors,
many new questions just pop up.
That's the nature of genealogyand I think that's the fun of it
.
But yes, this is a type ofoccasion that's going to take a
lot of extra time to plan andit'll be complicated to put it
(40:57):
all together.
But you know, if it becomes alittle overwhelming, remember
there's professionals to helpyou, and Doug are at the ready
and also hiring a professionalgenealogist may help you just
get over some roadblocks andunlock some family connections.
Tracy Collins (41:15):
Okay, that's really helpful, rita, and I know
you just mentioned kind of that, doug, and I can help as well,
and I know you've been verylovely in your praise for the
podcast and our resources.
So are there any mistakes thatyou avoided thanks to kind of
using our podcast and ourplanning resources that you
think others might learn from?
Rita Fox (41:36):
This is a long list.
Quite frankly, I can't imaginehaving planned this trip with
all the tips that I learned fromyou and the podcast trip with
all the tips that I learned fromyou in the podcast.
You know we would have had anice trip, I'm sure, but this
really put it into a wholedifferent category having the
tips that you've given us.
We were waiting for our luggageat Heathrow and I was just
(42:00):
explaining a few things to Katieand she said how did you know
that?
So I told her that it was fromyou and the UK Travel Planning
Podcast.
So several times that samequestion came up and finally she
just answered her own questionsand said you learned this from
Tracy, right?
Tracy Collins (42:21):
Oh, that's so nice.
Rita Fox (42:23):
Some of the really invaluable resources that you
gave us.
Trippiamo there is absolutelyno way I would have attempted to
drive without taking theTrippiamo course, and I actually
reviewed it a couple of times.
It did give me the confidencethat I could safely drive in the
(42:43):
UK, but, that being said, I didnot enjoy it.
I really didn't see muchscenery, so we didn't drive as
much as I was planning on.
But Katie didn't see muchanything because she was just
focused on my driving, so it.
But you know, I feel like okay,if I go back and I need to
(43:05):
drive, I can, I can do thatagain.
But you know, with, as you know, I feel like okay, if I go back
and I need to drive, I can dothat again.
But you know, as you know, thepublic transportation in the UK
is so great we really really gotto go every place that we
needed to.
Let's see another one of thetrips Discover Real London Black
Cab Tours.
I think I've already ravedabout that.
But you know, our guide, ourdriver Mark, was absolutely
(43:26):
phenomenal.
He communicated with us beforewe even left the US.
He was flexible on a pickuppoint.
His enthusiasm, hisgood-natured personality.
The Caledonian Sleeper we'vetalked about that just a little
bit.
We just had not even heardabout or considered a sleeper
car until we had listened toyour episodes on it.
(43:48):
What we liked is it saved us aday of travel for approximately
what the price of a hotel roomin London would be.
But just going to sleep inEngland, waking up in Scotland,
stepping off the train inInverness which was our very
first time even setting foot inScotland and we were met there
at the gate by our dear friendBetty, who we hadn't seen in 20
(44:11):
years.
In Inverness which was our veryfirst time even setting foot in
Scotland, and we were met thereat the gate by our dear friend
Betty, who we hadn't seen in 20years.
It was really emotional.
And, yeah, the Caledoniansleeper just really set the
table for what was to come.
Yet With transportation, yeah,I just rave about the UK's
public transportation, but weuse the national rail system.
We decided to purchase aBritrail pass.
(44:32):
We costed it out and it didmake sense for us.
Even if it had been close, Ithink we would have done it
anyway, just for the convenienceof it.
I love just stepping on it onthe train.
There were a couple of timesthat when they came around to
check the tickets.
They looked at it.
One said, oh, I haven't seenone of these for a while.
And another said, oh, I'mreally not sure what to do with
this, but it was always just yep, you've got a Brit rail, there
(44:55):
you go.
So we used that a lot.
Having an Oyster card helped.
We learned about theunderground.
All the tips really reallyhelped us immensely.
Let's see Take walks.
The early access tour ofEdinburgh Castle was fantastic.
I think I've already ravedabout that enough.
(45:18):
But just having the access tothe castle before the general
public gets to get in for theday.
As we were leaving we could seelong queues lined up to get in,
but they were lined up and wewere already done for the day,
so that was great.
And then, of course, theceremony of the keys.
I hadn't heard about that atall, but definitely worth
(45:40):
including in the itinerary too.
Tracy Collins (45:43):
No, it's brilliant and I'm glad you
shared that with the listener.
So, you know, know, add thosethings into your itinerary if
you, because they're, they'reall fantastic things we we
recommend, honestly discoverreal london, the take walks,
tours to take the californiasleep, but they're all fabulous.
Now, rita, you uh added thisquestion in at the end, so I'm
going to ask this one becauseit's uh, it's a fun question.
(46:04):
So were there any humorousincidents, things that didn't go
planned or that you dodifferently?
So those are kind of, I guess,three.
Well, maybe the humorousincidents and the things that
didn't go to planned.
Are they kind of related?
Rita Fox (46:18):
Well, since I asked the question, you know I've
definitely got an answer to herefor you, but I guess I would
chalk them up to what I wouldcall good learning experiences.
I mean, things could go alittle different next time, but
you know so many of them weavoided because we listened to
you.
There was a time or two wedidn't listen to you and that
(46:41):
maybe caused us little problems.
But, for example, I think it'sreally important to have a plan
B transportation-wise.
We ended up one day at WaterlooStation.
We were trying to go someplaceelse and when I pulled up the
app, the underground line saidmajor delays.
(47:02):
They just weren't working, theyweren't going, and we found out
that it was a major poweroutage that had caused a huge
disruption.
So we had to just kind of okay,well, we're just going to go
outside and take a taxi to wherewe need to go.
We did have one thing that wasout of our control, but we
(47:22):
landed at Heathrow and I thinkit is probably referred to as a
balked landing.
It was more than just a goaround.
The plane was pitching fromleft to right very significantly
and literally a moment beforewe landed and people were
screaming.
The pilot pulled up and wedidn't land.
(47:45):
So we circled around and cameand landed a second time.
It happened so fast.
Everybody just looked at eachother, like what just happened
here.
I'm not sure, but you know,there's some things that are
really pretty much out of yourcontrol when you're traveling,
and that was certainly one ofthem.
Tracy Collins (48:04):
I'm just actually going to say to our listeners
at this point that it's a goodjob.
They can't see my face Becausewhen you were talking about that
landing, there was a look ofhorror on my face because I
don't like flying.
Even though I fly all the time,I really don't like flying.
So I would have been off forthe rest of the day.
(48:24):
After that.
I would have been like no, andI would have been one of those
people screaming Definitely.
Rita Fox (48:30):
Are you sure you weren't on the same flight?
Possibly, possibly, you wouldhave remembered, or maybe you
blocked it out one or the other.
Oh gosh, yeah, there were someother just little fun little
things that happened.
For example, we were driving inrush hour traffic in Inverness
(48:52):
and I couldn't get over to thelane in the roundabout that I
wanted to.
So I thought, okay, I'm justgoing to make a left-hand turn
here, and I ended up on a milelong bridge over the Moray Firth
and I'm sure, looking at GoogleMaps now, it's a beautiful view
over it.
I saw none of it.
There was nothing that I saw.
(49:13):
So I think that's when Idecided you know, I just am
really not enjoying this drivingthing, but you know, it was
still a good experience.
Just a few of the other littlethings.
We were going down the RoyalMile in Edinburgh you or the
other little things we weregoing down the Royal Mile in
Edinburgh and we came across StGiles Cathedral just as the
(49:33):
Sunday morning services wereending and we just saw this huge
regalia of people leaving thebuilding and we weren't sure
what was going on.
We knew the Church ofScotland's General Assembly was
meeting that week, but people inthe crowds stopped.
They pulled out their cellphone cameras and, as a woman
(49:54):
was being escorted into a limo,somebody said, oh look, it's
Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
Well turned out, it wasn't.
In fact, the closest we evergot to the Royals was at the
London's a restaurant, a pubcalled the Ship's Tavern, and
I've got a shot of Katie in thetavern in the television.
(50:17):
In back of her they wereshowing an American baseball
game between the Boston Red Soxand the Kansas City Royals.
And I'm telling you, the KansasCity Royals are not the reason
that we came to the UK, butthat's as close as we got to the
Royals.
Burl Market absolutely loved it, but I will not go there again
(50:40):
on a bank holiday weekend,saturday afternoon.
That was a mistake, even thoughthe Humble Crumble is delicious
.
I'll go there a different time.
And then, finally, we had adilemma who gets the top bunk of
the Caledonian sleeper?
Should it be the one with thevertigo issues or the one with
(51:00):
the arthritic knees?
But I have to admit that I didhear Doug talk about the top
bunk vertigo issues and I didn'tmention it to Katie ahead of
time.
She took the top bunk.
I only told her after the factbecause I didn't want to, you
know, plant any seeds in hermind.
But I did fess up, so I do oweher one.
(51:23):
In fact, the next day when wegot to Inverness, we were in the
cathedral there and there was asign.
In fact, the next day when wegot to Inverness, we were in the
cathedral there and there was asign.
And both of us looked at thesign.
That was on a stand and Katiesaid is that sign moving?
Because we were still feeling alittle bit of movement from the
train.
I said yeah, I think the sign'sactually moving.
It's not us, but I don't wantto scare the way of theedonian
(51:47):
sleeper, because it was worth it.
We did have a good time.
Tracy Collins (51:55):
But yeah, there was a little motion going on the
next day.
Honestly, doug and I have toflip a coin on that.
Who's taking the top bug?
In fact, the last time that weboth took the Caledonian sleeper
, I did it on my own and he didit on his own, so we had two to
choose from.
So we were a bit spoiled.
Oh, honestly, honestly, that'sso funny, that is great and I
know one thing you did mentionthat you you'd you'd not taken
(52:15):
doug's advice about, aboutgetting a reservation on the
train from london to edinburghor edinburgh to london.
Which way around was itprobably?
Rita Fox (52:23):
oh, from edinburgh to london, yeah we were so spoiled
with the brit rail, pass it.
It'd just show up, okay, andthe next train is leaving at
such and such time.
Just walk to walk there and geton.
But had we had to do it overagain, definitely would have
booked the train from Invernessto London.
We ended up, it was really busyand there were some seats we
(52:48):
actually sat in that like uh-oh,I think this one's reserved.
So then where did we get toYork or someplace and we had to
switch seats.
Katie got stuck in a table forfour in the window seat, going
backwards, which again is notgood for people with vertigo
issues, and I don't think any ofthe four people were interested
(53:09):
in any conversation.
So it was kind of a long tripfor her back.
But that was very minor and,like I said, very much a live
and learn thing.
Tracy Collins (53:16):
Yeah, well, I've done that and it's a bit like
musical chairs.
You just hope that nobody'sgoing to come on and take that
reserved seat.
But yeah, it's always a goodidea to reserve.
And, in fact, doug's justreleased his video on YouTube
about actually going from Londonto Edinburgh and the different
train operator options you'vegot.
So anybody who's on YouTube,pop over and check that out.
He's very proud of it.
It's his very first YouTubevideo Great, but as you know, we
(53:41):
always end the podcast with thesame question, so you're no
exception.
Really.
You are getting the question.
Finally, what would be the onetip you'd share with someone
planning a first trip to the UKfor genealogy travel.
Rita Fox (53:56):
I knew you were going to ask that question, so I do
have an answer for you.
First, could I thank a coupleof people before I answer your
question, of course, of courseyou can.
Start off, I want to reallythank you and Doug, not only for
all your tips, but just theenthusiasm that you bring to
travel.
It's very contagious and I hopeyou know how much you have
(54:17):
really helped us with our trip.
The other people I want tothank is our host in Inverness,
our lovely friend Betty, herdear friend Dave, daughter Wendy
, grandson Thomas.
They just really made us feelso welcome.
I think I've already mentionedour tour guide in London, mark,
and our tour guide at Balmoral,sally Ann.
(54:38):
Our volunteers in WorcesterCemetery, our friend Jill, who
took us to and from the airportyou know who your true friends
are when they will pick you upat the airport at odd times and,
of course, all the people atthe Family History Centers and
our newfound relatives, robertand Jillian.
(54:58):
So yeah, it just took a lot ofpeople to really make this very
special.
So thank you, tracy.
Tracy Collins (55:04):
That's lovely, that's lovely.
Thank you, rita, all right.
Rita Fox (55:09):
What would I recommend ?
It has to do with planning.
I think your listeners alreadyknow that they are in the right
place planning because they'relistening to the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
But genealogy, as I mentioned,it really requires a lot of
extra time to prepare, but it'sa fun preparation process.
(55:31):
You know, before we left we hadlots of interesting stories.
We'd made personal connectionswithout even setting foot in the
UK.
But I would recommend that, evenif you don't travel to the UK
involving genealogy, if you canfind some way to personalize
your trip to make it morerewarding maybe it's a hobby or
(55:54):
a vocation that you share withpeople in the UK If you can find
a society, a conference, justsomething to help make it a more
personal trip than simplyticking off the boxes of okay, I
saw Big Ben, nothing wrong withBig Ben, I enjoyed it but just
find some way to make it morepersonal.
And I think, finally, what Iwould say as far as the planning
(56:17):
process is that all of us needto remember that, like it or not
, we are ambassadors of our homecountries and I think if we can
focus less on bringing alongour best clothes and more upon
bringing along our best self,we'll be in good shape.
Tracy Collins (56:36):
Lovely.
That's a lovely tip and alovely sentiment.
Rita, it's been amazing talkingto you.
It's been lovely to meet you,but it's been fantastic to talk
to you today and get your tripreport.
You guys certainly had a very,very special trip and I am so
happy that you were willing tocome on and share that with us
and our many thousands oflisteners who, I'm sure, are
(56:58):
going to thoroughly enjoy thisepisode.
So thanks so much.
Thanks so much, rita, forcoming on.
Thank you, tracy.
Thanks once again to Rita forcoming on the episode this week.
It's been lovely to chat withyou and you can find links to
the places that Rita chattedabout, some of the places that
they where they stayed, andother links in the show notes
(57:20):
for this episode, which are atuktravelplanningcom.
Forward slash, episode 158.
Don't forget you can contactmyself and Doug via Speakpipe
and you can find a link to thatalso in this week's show notes.
Now that just leaves me to say,as always, until next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
(57:43):
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app.
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
(58:04):
Happy UK travel planning.
Planning a UK trip around your family history.
In this episode I chat withRita Fox, who recently explored
England and Scotland with herspouse on a genealogy-themed
adventure.
She shares how they researchedtheir ancestry, built an
itinerary around meaningfullocations, and what it was like
to walk in their ancestors'footsteps.
If you're dreaming of turningyour family tree into a travel
(00:21):
route, this episode is packedwith tips and inspiration.
Intro (00:25):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this podcast, tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:48):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Tracy Collins (01:06):
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the UK
Travel Planner Podcast.
In today's episode, I'm sharinga trip report with a difference
.
Rita Fox recently travelled tothe UK with her wife, Katie, on
a journey centred around theirfamily histories, exploring the
places their ancestors oncelived, uncovering personal
stories and connecting withdistant relatives along the way.
(01:27):
This is a lovely, lovely tripreport from Rita and it's just a
beautiful example of howgenealogy can shape a travel
experience, adding layers ofmeaning and emotion to every
stop, and you will understandwhat I mean when you listen to
this episode.
I began by asking Rita to tellus a little bit about herself,
where she's from and whatinspired them to plan their
(01:47):
first ever trip to the UK aroundtheir family histories.
Welcome onto the podcast, Rita.
It's absolutely fantastic tomeet you and chat to you today.
I feel like I know you.
I've already said that becausewe were communicating when you
were planning your trip andduring your trip as well, which
is fantastic.
So can you tell us a bit aboutyourself, where you're from and
what inspired you and yourspouse Katie to plan a trip to
(02:10):
the UK around your familyhistories?
Rita Fox (02:16):
Well, thank you so much, Tracy.
Yes, my name is Rita Fox.
I'm 68 years old.
I live, along with my wife,Katie, in the United States.
We're located in the state ofMinnesota and we live actually
in a suburb of the city ofMinneapolis, Minnesota.
We decided that really it wastime for us to prioritize travel
(02:37):
, and the UK was on the top ofour list.
I had made family history tripskind of part of my routine some
years ago before I met Katie,and I found that it was just a
really fun way to meet people,to be able to put your own
family's story within thehistory and culture of a
(02:58):
location, and so, since we werethinking of taking a trip to the
UK, I thought well, you know,maybe we could duplicate this
and do some genealogy.
So that's basically how we gotstarted.
Tracy Collins (03:10):
Oh, I absolutely love it and I've got it.
You know, I was born in the UKbut I've got family from
Scotland, I've got family fromCornwall, I've got family from
Derbyshire and it's amazing whenyou start going down this kind
of rabbit hole of finding outwhere you're from, where your
roots are from, that makes itamazing.
So when did you first startexploring your family history
and at what point did it becomea kind of travel goal for you?
Rita Fox (03:34):
You are right.
It is absolutely a rabbit holeFor me.
I knew a lot about my UKancestry in Scotland and England
and Northern Ireland, but forKatie all she really had was a
handwritten family tree chartthat she'd filled out some years
ago, and she really didn't knowmuch about her own genealogy.
So one day we took a trip tothis little rural cemetery and
(03:58):
found her great-grandparents'headstone and it read George
Whiteford from Linlithgow,scotland, and Katie had not
realized at all that herWhiteford side of her family was
from Scotland, so we decided todig deeper.
Tracy Collins (04:13):
Absolutely perfect.
And you say your family kind oftraces back to Scotland,
northern Ireland and England andyou'd already kind of done that
research.
So how did you go aboutresearching the places that your
ancestors came from, kind of?
What tools, websites orarchives would you recommend?
I mean, I know I've done a bitof this myself, but I'm really
(04:34):
interested because you've kindof gone a bit deeper than I have
.
So I'm really interested tofind out.
You know how you did it.
Rita Fox (04:40):
Well, I hope you'll keep in mind that I am just
really a very amateur, very,very amateur genealogist.
It's just a hobby that I'vedabbled in over time.
Sometimes I'll set it aside foryears at a time, but I was very
fortunate that I had familymembers before me who'd done
quite a bit of work, so I wasable to build upon that was able
(05:07):
to build upon that.
Research has changed so muchsince I first started doing this
in the mid-1980s.
There's just so much availablenow on the internet that was not
available before.
So previously you know, as youprobably know this yourself
you've just had to spend timegoing to a local library, museum
, government records building,but now so much of that is
accessible online.
Not everything, there's stillsome records that haven't been
(05:29):
uploaded yet, but it really hasjust accelerated the pace of
what you can learn.
As far as websites, there's anumber of them available.
Some are paid subscription,others are free.
I've primarily used Ancestrycom, findagravecom,
scotlandspeoplegovuk andnationalarchivesgovuk, so
(05:58):
there's a lot of locations thatwill have their own family
history societies will havetheir own family history
societies.
So if you've got thatinformation available, it really
helps before you go, certainlyto start all this before you
start on your trip.
I found that researching the UKis so much easier than a lot of
countries.
There are so many good recordskept.
(06:19):
A lot of them have survived andthey're in English, which is
really a benefit for me who onlyspeaks English.
So this would be things likecensus records, church and civil
recordings of births, marriage,death, military records, wills,
immigrations all that kind ofstuff.
I would if you would.
(06:42):
I'd like to just offer onelittle bit of caution, because
there's a lot of these websitesthat have individual subscribers
.
They'll upload their owninformation.
Sometimes it's very accurate,sometimes it isn't, but the
problem is if somebody postssomething that isn't correct and
the others simply copy andpaste the same information.
(07:03):
Simply copy and paste the sameinformation.
For example, on AncestrycomI've come across a couple times
there's a date of birth of 2014listed for me.
So, while other people's youknow their undocumented posts
are great clues, they're notnecessarily facts, but, however,
one advantage of something likeAncestrycom is that you get to
(07:28):
really see who else isresearching the same people that
you are.
So what I did was I sent outsome messages to people that
were researching my family andalso Katie's family, so, of
course, they would be distantcousins.
One of the biggest surprises isactually once we were already
on route on our trip and one ofthem responded a man named
(07:52):
Robert.
He's a distant cousin ofKatie's and he asked if he and
his wife could meet with us.
So that was just a reallypleasant surprise.
Tracy Collins (08:02):
That's fabulous, I like to say you don't
necessarily, when you start onthis journey, you know that
these sort of things are goingto happen, do you?
So it's fantastic and I mustadmit, when I did a little bit
of my family history, what wasreally nice when I started on it
is that there were kind ofthings that had been passed down
, like my grandfather hadmentioned about his aunt that
(08:23):
she'd had an accident on a farmwhen she was 16 and it had a
huge impact on the family and Iwas able to trace that and then
actually see her deathcertificate and find out a
little bit more about what hadhappened to her, because her
name has actually been passeddown the family from generation
to generation and it kind ofbrought to life a story you know
relative.
So I just think it's absolutelyfascinating to do.
(08:48):
Now, once you had your familyhistory locations, how did you
go about designing youritinerary around that?
Rita Fox (08:57):
That was really a challenge, but actually a fun
challenge.
I liken this to puttingtogether a giant jigsaw puzzle.
We knew how long we were goingto be gone 17 days and we knew
we'd have to prioritize whichlocations we'd visit.
We could never get to them all,so we picked out about six
(09:18):
locations.
So then the challenge was tocoordinate like which family
history centers were open onwhich days, as well as when our
friend, our host in Inverness,was available, and then also to
squeeze in some sightseeingdestinations too.
So finally, we factored inwhich geographical
(09:39):
considerations there were.
So we weren't doing a lot ofbacktracking, and so what we
decided on was an itinerarystarting with an overnight
flight into London.
We spent two days in London, wetook the overnight train, the
Caledonian Sleeper, to Inverness, two nights in Inverness, then
we had a week based out ofEdinburgh, and then we went back
(10:01):
to London for three days andoff we went back home oh, I
think you planned it really welland you didn't do too much
backtracking, and I love thefact that you used the Caledonia
sleeper, which I know we'lltalk about in a little bit.
Tracy Collins (10:14):
um, but how did you balance?
Obviously you had the ancestrystops that you wanted to include
in your itinerary, but I'm sureyou also want to do some
general sightseeing and a bit ofdowntime in those 17 days, so
how did you balance that?
Rita Fox (10:27):
That was also a challenge, you know, when you've
got a limited amount of timeeven though 17 days is quite a
good time, at least in my worldthere was so much we wanted to
see and do, but yet we didn'twant to end up being so tired
that we weren't enjoying of it.
So what we did was we locked inthe reservations we had to, and
(10:48):
then we filled in around itwith a list of just more
flexible activities for otherdays and times, and that seemed
to work well.
There were a couple of dayswhere we really just hit the
wall.
We were tired and we decided toscale back what we were doing.
An example of that is we had alate evening in London attending
(11:08):
the Ceremony of the Keys.
I know that's an activity youreally enjoy, but then the next
morning, rather than getting upearly to catch a train to bath,
we just decided to start later.
So we did start quite a bitlater and we followed by a short
walk from our hotel over to theBritish Museum, which we
(11:29):
absolutely loved, but barelyscratched the surface of it.
So you know, we just took thethe things that we had to see
because you had to getreservations, and then just
filled in the rest.
Tracy Collins (11:40):
I was going to say.
So what did so?
Obviously, some of the thingsyou would have had to have
booked in advance.
So what sort of things did yousay, right, we need to get those
locked in.
And what sort of things did youleave flexible?
Rita Fox (11:50):
We knew where we wanted to stay.
We'd found a company that hadsome really nice apartments for
great location and relativelyreasonable.
We wanted to have cookingfacilities, just for some
(12:12):
dietary reasons for both of us.
But the problem was this placewas booked out months in advance
.
So we knew we wanted to staythere, but we weren't sure which
days, and fortunately thecompany advises just book out as
many days as you possibly canand then, as your itinerary gets
a little bit more firmed upthan just release the days.
(12:34):
So that worked out nicely.
So then the next thing I thinkwe booked was our plane tickets
and accommodations in London.
The other advanced things wehad to book was Caledonian
sleepers.
You know that's a must to getthat ahead of time.
At Balmoral Castle we booked aguided private Land Rover tour
(12:57):
of the state, which waswonderful A car rental in
Inverness let's see the DiscoverReal London Black Cab Tours,
and then a couple of theappointments, like at the
Paisley Heritage Center let'ssee Ceremony of the Keys.
Of course we had to book thatahead of time.
(13:18):
There were only a couple ofdinner reservations that we did
previously book, and that was atJamie Oliver's Catherine Street
Restaurant in London for aproper Sunday roast, which I
know is something that you raveabout.
And then the highlight as faras food goes was at a place
called the Preston Field Housein Edinburgh.
(13:38):
We booked at the RhubarbRestaurant there and of course
we had to get our Brit Reel passbefore we left home too.
I know that you had told me besure and book your ticket for
Edinburgh Castle, and then, afew days after you mentioned
that, your guest was Charliefrom Take Walks and she talked
about a new tour that providedearly access to Edinburgh Castle
(14:02):
.
That turned out to be justfantastic, having a small group
the the castle basically toourselves, so that that was
great.
But then we we filled in withthe flexible locations, um
things like sterling castle.
Now we were there in may, so wedidn't feel we need to book
ahead of time.
I can't vouch for july andaugust, but may it was fine.
Tracy Collins (14:25):
Um borough market , of course, the british museum,
georgian house in edinburgh, umlondon eye, the thames river
cruise in, and then finally,even song at westminster abbey
yeah, you kind of went flexiblewith those, uh, those things and
I think it's important that youdid book in the the things that
you mentioned, things like thecaledonian sleeper.
(14:45):
We've actually just we bookedthat last month for our daughter
because she'll be there inAugust and she's going actually
London, edinburgh, on it.
But we were like you need tobook it, you need to get it
booked.
And then she was panicking,thinking she hadn't booked it.
So we sat down with her andwent right, we'll sort that out
with you.
And also, when you were in,when you did the walks to
(15:06):
Edinburgh Castle, you also sawCharlie, which was fantastic.
Rita Fox (15:09):
Yeah, she said to say hi to you.
She's just a very nice youngwoman.
She just happened to be there.
It was actually another tourguide, but she just happened
that Sunday morning to be outthere.
So yeah, it was nice to get totalk to her Great person.
Tracy Collins (15:22):
That's lovely, and it's just sometimes nice to
meet people that you listen toon the podcast in real life.
Yes, exactly so.
Did you contact any of thelocal churches, archives or
historical societies ahead ofyour visit?
Because?
Rita Fox (15:40):
I guess you wanted to get involved and visit some of
these people and chat to them.
Yes, absolutely In fact.
Not only did I contact them,but I actually became a member
of a couple of these groups.
One was it's called the CentralScotland Family History Society
and also a group of peoplecalled the Friends of Worreston
Cemetery.
It's in Edinburgh, and reallyeverybody that we came in
(16:01):
contact with was so helpful.
They were generous throughtheir time.
One example of this is at theWest Lothian Family Society.
They're open a couple of days aweek for drop-in visitors.
So we showed up the day wevisited.
The two volunteers on siteliterally dropped everything
they were doing simply to assistKatie with her Whiteford family
(16:24):
history, and then they foundsome additional information and
one of the volunteers, alan,actually sent us several
follow-up emails after our visit.
Another place that was veryhelpful was the Paisley History
Center in Paisley, scotland.
So a month before a trip I'dactually given them some
(16:45):
information to work on, so freeof charge, they did a thorough
review of the porter side of myfamily, the genealogy.
So I booked a couple hoursession at the center and when I
arrived, their staff person,brian.
He'd already set up a largetable.
It had the documents, the booksand all pulled from the
(17:06):
archives related specifically tomy family history.
So it was really really helpfuland kind.
The other group that I mentioned, the Friends of Worst and
Cemetery this is a reallyfascinating place.
It's one of the world's firstpark-like non-denominational
(17:26):
cemeteries.
It was built in a very grandVictorian style but
unfortunately years of privateownership have led to really
being overgrown and withvegetation and disrepair.
So a group of volunteers juststepped up and they go there and
they trim around headstones.
So I contacted the group'sleader, carolyn, ahead of time
(17:48):
and she helped me researchexactly where my relatives were
buried their lair, their plots.
So I said can I come and helpyou on one of the Saturdays
you're working?
And when I arrived, carolineand the other volunteers, they
directed me right to where theBrimmer family headstone was.
They'd already worked to clearaway the brush and they're just
(18:12):
amazing people and they justsaid well, there you are, meet
your ancestors.
Tracy Collins (18:20):
So it was just beautiful, it's wonderful, yeah,
and just it's just fantasticthat you had so much help and
that these people are out thereoffering their support and help,
for free, for you to be able totrace your family ancestry and
kind of get in touch, and that'swhat it feels like, doesn't it?
It feels like you're getting intouch over the generations and
over the centuries from thepeople that went before us,
which I always I just alwaysfind fascinating.
(18:43):
There's just something somagical about it and I know
you've mentioned that as well.
There's something about youfeel like you can touch the past
and you have that connection,don't you?
Rita Fox (18:52):
Yeah, I really, really had a sense of gratitude for
the generations that have comebefore and some of their
struggles and their life choices, especially in context of what
might be going on politically oreconomically, religious-wise.
You know, why did they emigrate?
What were the factors that ledto that?
(19:12):
So, even though we'll neverfully answer those questions,
yeah, like you said, you do feelvery much in touch with
generations that came before.
Tracy Collins (19:22):
Absolutely, and I know I'm kind of touching a
little bit on my own familyhistory, but when I found out
that part of my family came fromCornwall and then I realised
that they'd come from the tinmines and then moved up to the
northeast to the coal mines, itwas just fascinating looking at
the reasons why and actually howtough people had it, really,
how tough our ancestors had itand the tough decisions they had
(19:44):
to make just to simply survivein a lot of cases.
Anyway, we'll talk about yourhighlights now, because I'm sure
there were so many amazingthings that you did.
So can you walk us through justsome of the highlights for you
and Katie please?
Rita Fox (20:02):
Absolutely, and this is some of the highlights that
would be above and beyond thefamily history related
highlights that you know I wouldthink majority of your
listeners would find more incommon than might be the boring
parts of my specific familyhistory.
But first and foremost I wouldsay Westminster Abbey.
The very last night of our trip, the last full day in London
(20:26):
before we returned home, we wentto the Evensong service at
Westminster.
It was really very moving.
It's an actual church service.
There's some readings and themajority of it is sung.
In my opinion, I think evenpeople that are only interested
(20:49):
in history or interested inchoral music would really find
it a valuable experience and itwas such a peaceful ending to
the last day of our trip.
I think I already mentioned thePreston Field House in Edinburgh
.
We had dinner there.
It was absolutely delicious,elegant, historic.
I mean this place has it all.
It's a several centuries oldlocation.
(21:13):
It was a private residence andnow it's a hotel and restaurant,
but it's this really genteelcountry estate that's plucked
literally in the middle of thecity of Edinburgh.
When we were talking to theconcierge outside the front door
, he pointed out a bench thatBenjamin Franklin enjoyed
sitting at during hispost-American Revolutionary War
(21:37):
diplomatic tour, he had anextended stay at Preston Field
House.
So, for my money, any placethat has hosted Sir Elton John,
sir Winston Churchill andBenjamin Franklin, that's good
enough for me.
So yeah, it was delicious.
Yeah, ceremony of the Keys.
I know that that's a favoriteof yours.
(21:58):
That truly is just livinghistory at its best.
You feel like you'reparticipating in history.
We certainly enjoyed the RoyalYacht Britannia.
I think the guided, self-guidedaudio tour they have is
outstanding and I think it'ssomething that would appeal to
(22:19):
people if you're interested inmaritime activities or the Navy,
or if you're simply justinterested in the Royals,
there's a little bit ofsomething for everybody at
Britannia.
Um, we visited Stirling Castle.
Tracy Collins (22:32):
Go ahead oh yeah, no, I was not.
I was gonna, um, just say aswell, because Doug and I
actually went for the first timeto roll Yacht Britannia last
September and I was alsoincredibly impressed um, because
I'm not a massive fan of audiotours I'm always like I prefer
to talk to people than haveheadphones on but actually it's
really very well done.
I thought it was.
It was excellent and worth avisit out for sure, so I was
(22:54):
glad to.
I was glad to see that was onyour list yeah, no, I, I agree
100 percent.
Rita Fox (23:01):
Um, let's see.
We, uh, we went to sterling andalthough it's not nearly as
often visited as EdinburghCastle, I think we found it to
be equally interested with anequally fascinating history and
its interactive displays Ithought were excellent.
So, yeah, that was high on ourlist.
(23:21):
As you know, we went on aDiscover Real London Black Cab
tour.
We can't recommend it highenough.
We had our tour guide, mark wasjust phenomenal.
It's just a first-class way tosee the city and especially for
us as first-time visitors, wejust felt like total VIPs being
(23:44):
taken around the city.
So, yeah, I would absolutelyrecommend that.
Another highlight is when wewent to Balmoral Castle.
It was Katie and I, our friendBetty from Inverness and her
very wonderful friend Dave, andthe four of us went on a
two-hour private guided LandRover tour around Balmoral
(24:05):
Estate.
It was excellent.
Our guide, sally Ann, she justwent above and beyond and you
know, and we told her afterwardswe said you know, sally Ann,
for you this is a workday, thisis a Wednesday, but for us this
is a once in a lifetime eventand thank you for making it so
special for us.
So yeah, just to see the innerworkings of the estate itself.
(24:29):
What all it's like.
You get to see the red stagsthat you know the royals hunt
and then after they kill thestag, they dress it, and Katie
had a venison burger at the cafe.
That was one of the red stagsthat were hunted on site.
So yeah, that was great.
And certainly Edinburgh Castle.
(24:50):
What can you say about thatplace that hasn't already been
said?
It's not only the tour of it,but we had a.
Our accommodations on PrincessStreet in Edinburgh had a
magnificent view of the castle.
So part of our just ourentertainment in the evening was
just staring out the window atthe castle.
(25:13):
It was just memorized.
I'm sure there's many times inthis trip that we've looked like
a couple of kids in a candystore, just you know, gazing
like, yeah, there goes thetourists again.
They're looking up withamazement in their face.
But you know, so be it.
But then, besides that, therewere a lot of just really
unexpected moments that stayedwith us Our friend in Inverness,
(25:37):
betty.
She took us for a long drivealong Loch Ness and no, we
didn't see Nessie, but we wentto her daughter Wendy's farm and
on just real short notice,wendy graciously welcomed us to
her farm, showed us her horses.
It was just such a peaceful andlovely farm in this deep valley
(25:58):
.
Just wandering around Inverness, going to one of the most
unique bookstores I've ever seenmost unique bookstores I've
ever seen.
And yes, there are people inScotland that just on a
Wednesday, walking down thestreet are wearing a kilt.
That doesn't happen in the US.
He was just out shopping.
There was no wedding going onor anything.
(26:20):
So I'm sure again we will looklike tourists just staring.
But that was, that's fine, youknow, and just the other things.
Trying to take a shower on amoving train Well, it worked, it
was interesting, but yeah, itworked.
And there's other things I thinkthat tourists see that people
(26:40):
in their own environment don'tsee.
In other words, they've seen ita million times so they don't
see it anymore.
An example of this we weresitting on High Street in
Linlithgow and I'll keep in mindvery historic.
There's this huge cathedral,there's this palace that's in
ruins now, but it's where MaryQueen of Scots was born.
So we're taking all thishistory in.
(27:02):
And then what goes by in frontof us on High Street?
But a big green John Deeretractor pulling a load of hay or
grass clippings or somethingyou know.
So for me, as an American,having grown up in a farm,
there's nothing more iconic thana big John Deere tractor.
But you're seeing the modernworld in the same frame, the
(27:24):
same photo that we took alongwith history.
It just pops out at youeverywhere, but of course this
is a modern country that justkeeps chugging along, so you're
going to see modern things rightnext to history absolutely it's
(27:44):
all juxtaposed, isn't it?
Tracy Collins (27:45):
and it's funny because in London a lot of
people complain about the Londoneye because they kind of say
it's a bit of an eyesore.
But I'm like that's London.
London has always evolved andthere's always new things, new
things that potentially notgoing to like the shards and
other one people go, but it'slike that.
That.
That's how London has been forgeneral, that's how the UK has
been forever, for thousands ofyears.
It just kind of it develops.
And and it's an interestingpoint as well, because I I I
(28:07):
hear a lot of people kind of goor, uh, you know, come and see
london like a local or come andsee like, but actually sometimes
I don't want to go like a local, I want to, I want to have a
visitor's eyes on things,because once when you're a local
place, you you forget, youdon't see the things exactly
like you're seeing.
Rita Fox (28:21):
And and I think it's really interesting because doug
and I appreciate so much nowthat we actually don't live in
the UK, we live in Australia,which people find a bit strange,
but we go back with thosevisitor eyes on as well and
appreciate things that weprobably didn't see, I think you
made a good point, especiallyabout the London Eye, because
what I felt, looking out the eyeitself, was just how much the
(28:45):
River Thames has to do with whyLondon is where it's at Like,
for example, for me, where Ilive, the reason the city of
Minneapolis, minnesota, is whereit's at is because of the
Mississippi River.
But when you're in the LondonEye, you get a sense of okay, I
get it now, why is it here?
Yeah, this makes total sense ofhow it all grew up.
Tracy Collins (29:08):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I totally agree with that, withthat.
Now, what about we'll go backto the, the you know kind of
tracing uh that your ancestries,and were there any emotional or
surprising moments when youvisit the places?
Uh connected to your ancestors?
Rita Fox (29:21):
I would say that emotional moments really define
this whole trip.
One example is we went to aplace called Polkhamid Park in
Scotland.
It's about halfway betweenGlasgow and Edinburgh.
It's a site of where it wasformerly a huge estate and about
160 years ago there was agamekeeper in the state and it
(29:45):
happened to be Katie's secondgreat-grandfather, james
Whiteford.
The huge mansion house that wasthere is long gone, but the
servants' quarters, thosecourtyard buildings and the muse
, the barns they're still thereand that's where Katie's family
would have lived and worked.
So when we arrived, waitingthere to introduce themselves
(30:07):
was, I mentioned, katie'sdistant cousin, robert, and his
wife Jillian.
So we bonded right away and,like I said, there were a number
of amazing family connections.
Robert's mother's name wasactually Katie Whiteford and
then after we got home, one ofKatie's nieces said well, you
(30:27):
know, why don't we send them aninvitation to our little
Whiteford family reunion we havein Minnesota every year?
Not that they would necessarilycome, but we just want them to
know that they're welcome.
Well, sure enough, they arecoming this August, making the
trip from Scotland to aWhiteford family reunion here in
Minnesota.
So we're just delighted aboutthat, that we're going to get to
(30:50):
host them.
That was just really exciting.
That's fabulous.
Yeah, it was.
There were a lot of emotionalmoments that really just kind of
caught us off guard.
For example, when we were atthe Edinburgh Castle we went
into one of the buildings thiswas after the tour, so we were
still very much alone on thecastle grounds.
We went into one of thebuildings this was after the
tour, so we were still very muchalone on the castle grounds but
(31:10):
we went into a building calledthe Scottish War Memorial, so it
was just the two of us thereand one staff person.
It's a very atmosphericbuilding, I guess is how I'd
describe it.
So we asked the staff if hecould direct us to the memorial
area for the Highland LightInfantry in World War I.
So he took us there.
(31:32):
He opened this big book and hefound the name of a Private,
whiteford from Whitburn,scotland.
He was killed in France 1915.
He's a first cousin of Katie'sgreat-grandpa and just reading
the details of that were prettyemotional For me, just visiting.
(31:52):
A couple of residences reallystand out.
They're now museums but yetthey're decorated in the style
and in the same neighborhoodwhere my ancestors would have
lived.
One of these places in Paisleyit's called the Weaver's Cottage
and the other in Edinburgh iscalled the Georgian House, and
so these two places reallycontrasted a difference in
(32:15):
wealth and in status.
This little humble Weaver'sCottage, just a simple one room
with a kitchen, hearth and beds,all in the same room to
accommodate like four adults andfour children.
But it was in the exactneighborhood, the same
occupation of my family thatimmigrated from Paisley.
(32:37):
So you know, you compare thatto the very ornately decorated
Georgian house in Edinburgh, inthe city's new town, and that's
where, 150 years ago, my familythat were part of the legal
profession they lived in thatneighborhood.
So just two very differentexistences, but I really felt a
(32:58):
very, very strong connection toboth places.
Tracy Collins (33:03):
Yeah, I can imagine and it's to say say it
again, it's kind of putting itinto perspective.
You know where your ancestorslived and and what their lives
were like, being able to see itas well, and that's what I love
about.
There's so many places in theUK where you can go and see what
the houses were like, what itwas like inside, what the
furniture was like, just so youcan stand there and kind of you
can feel it can't you really goin.
(33:24):
It's like okay, so this is.
You know, 200 years ago arelative of mine, an ancestor of
mine, would have stood in inthis, in this kitchen, preparing
food or whatever, uh, with thisrange and you know, and then
we've got our air fryers andmicrowaves in it kind of go, wow
, you know, kind of puts it inperspective.
But, um, what about, uh, werethere any locations that left a
(33:45):
big impression on you and Katie,just either for the genealogy
side of things or just astravelers?
Rita Fox (33:53):
Everything, but really more than any one single
location.
It was just the sum total, thereason why we've decided we
needed to travel moreinternationally.
It's a reminder of how smalland interconnected the world
really is.
I don't know, tracy, if you'veever noticed when you're
(34:15):
traveling that the first thingsthat stand out are the
differences, whether it'slanguage, dialect, scenery, food
, transportation.
But the longer you're there,what's really striking is all
the similarities in humanity,how much we really are alike.
(34:35):
Because, I'll be candid with you, we had a little bit of
trepidation about travelinginternationally as Americans,
and albeit it was a very smallsample size, but we were so
grateful and heartened to knowhow well received we are by the
UK residents.
They were able to reallydifferentiate their affection
(34:56):
for Americans from maybe some oftheir views of what's currently
going on in America.
So we were really, reallyheartened by that.
You know, the world is a smallplace.
This past week here inMinnesota, we had a very, very
tragic event that happened withthe assassination of a couple of
state political leaders, and wehad people from the UK that
(35:25):
we'd known, had heard about itinternationally and reached out,
just, you know, wanted to makesure we're okay and so, and so
yes, the world is a small place,for sure yeah, absolutely 100.
Tracy Collins (35:31):
And, as you say, we travel all the time and
you're exactly right.
It's, uh, you go and thedifferences are the things that
you notice, but ultimately, thelonger there, you just know that
we're all the same.
We're all the same, we all wantthe same things, and you know,
and, and that's that's well,that's how I I love meeting
people and getting to knowpeople and find out about their
(35:53):
lives, and, and that's whatmotivates me to travel, I want
to know, I want to know howother people live and what their
lives are like, because, butultimately, we're all, we all
want the same things.
So, yeah, I'm so glad that youhad that experience, uh, when
you were, when you're in the uk,that's it, the same hopes, the
same dreams, the same fears.
Rita Fox (36:12):
But.
But what is different is I havea new appreciation for what you
do, tracy, and all thetraveling you do.
It's tiring, it's wonderful,but my gosh, I how many times I
thought how do tracy and doug do?
And they're catching flightshere and there, and oh, my word,
yeah.
So I have a new appreciationfor you.
Tracy Collins (36:32):
It's true.
You know, we've been askedsince we got back cause we had
nine months of pretty full ontravel and everybody's like, oh,
you must want some downtime.
And I'm like, no, I could geton a flight and go again, do it
all again.
I absolutely, absolutely loveit.
Honestly, let's talk about what.
Now you're looking back becauseyou've been back a little bit,
a little while.
What was it that made this tripfeel so magical?
Rita Fox (36:56):
You know I try not to overuse that word magical, but
it really is what comes to mindwith this trip.
As we started getting into theplanning that progressed, there
were so many coincidences, theselittle serendipitous I don't
know if you want to call themsynchronicities oh my gosh.
(37:18):
And I have experienced thisbefore when traveling with a
genealogy focus.
But here's one quick example.
One of my ancestors, a womannamed Janet Watt, she'd left
Scotland with her family.
She was a small girl I do havea photo of her from later in her
life, but my thoughts wouldjust often return to her and
(37:43):
shortly before our trip, itoccurred to me that the day we
were leaving home would havebeen Janet Watts' 200th birthday
.
So just time and again, as wewalked in our ancestors'
footsteps, I just had a feelingof connection, sitting in the
sanctuary of the Church of theHoly Root in Sterling.
(38:06):
This is the place where Mary,queen of Scots, had her
coronation, but it's also whereJanet Watt's family would have
worshipped.
So just being there, it wasreally, really, really moving.
But this strong sense ofconnection occurred both during
the planning process and alsovisiting the different locations
(38:30):
.
I don't know what it's about.
I have no idea how this allcomes about.
You know, whether humans havethe same kind of genetic memory
or corporate memory that bees do.
I have no idea, but I just wantto experience it and enjoy it,
and we certainly did.
I know that Katie and I areprobably going to travel a lot
(38:51):
in the future, but it's going tobe really hard to top this trip
for sure.
Tracy Collins (38:57):
It does sound like you just had the best time,
honestly.
So, rita, what would you say tosomeone who's considering
planning a trip like this butdoesn't know where to start?
Rita Fox (39:06):
Sure, if you were to talk to professional
genealogists, I think they wouldmostly tell you that tracing
your roots begins with yourselfand you work backwards, like,
for example, if your parents areliving, talk to them, ask them
what they know.
If they aren't get their datesof birth and death what did they
(39:27):
do for a living?
Where did they live, same withyour grandparents Then I would
recommend trying to plug thisinformation into a database like
answeristrycom or FamilySearch,myheritage, findmypast.
These websites will give you anidea of who's researching the
same people.
Like I said, then you can kindof reach out to these other
(39:52):
people.
Which of this information canyou verify and back it up with
some records that are online?
From that you can try to findout when did your family
immigrate from the UK, where didthey live before they
immigrated, and then you canreach out to the local family
(40:12):
history societies or otherresources.
But ideally this is somethingthat should be done prior to
your trip.
I tell people that I probablyput more hours into planning
this trip than I have all othertrips in my life combined, just
because that was so researchheavy with the ancestry, but
(40:35):
it's rewarding to do that.
You're never going to find outeverything.
For every question that getsanswered about your ancestors,
many new questions just pop up.
That's the nature of genealogyand I think that's the fun of it
.
But yes, this is a type ofoccasion that's going to take a
lot of extra time to plan andit'll be complicated to put it
(40:57):
all together.
But you know, if it becomes alittle overwhelming, remember
there's professionals to helpyou, and Doug are at the ready
and also hiring a professionalgenealogist may help you just
get over some roadblocks andunlock some family connections.
Tracy Collins (41:15):
Okay, that's really helpful, rita, and I know
you just mentioned kind of that, doug, and I can help as well,
and I know you've been verylovely in your praise for the
podcast and our resources.
So are there any mistakes thatyou avoided thanks to kind of
using our podcast and ourplanning resources that you
think others might learn from?
Rita Fox (41:36):
This is a long list.
Quite frankly, I can't imaginehaving planned this trip with
all the tips that I learned fromyou and the podcast trip with
all the tips that I learned fromyou in the podcast.
You know we would have had anice trip, I'm sure, but this
really put it into a wholedifferent category having the
tips that you've given us.
We were waiting for our luggageat Heathrow and I was just
(42:00):
explaining a few things to Katieand she said how did you know
that?
So I told her that it was fromyou and the UK Travel Planning
Podcast.
So several times that samequestion came up and finally she
just answered her own questionsand said you learned this from
Tracy, right?
Tracy Collins (42:21):
Oh, that's so nice.
Rita Fox (42:23):
Some of the really invaluable resources that you
gave us.
Trippiamo there is absolutelyno way I would have attempted to
drive without taking theTrippiamo course, and I actually
reviewed it a couple of times.
It did give me the confidencethat I could safely drive in the
(42:43):
UK, but, that being said, I didnot enjoy it.
I really didn't see muchscenery, so we didn't drive as
much as I was planning on.
But Katie didn't see muchanything because she was just
focused on my driving, so it.
But you know, I feel like okay,if I go back and I need to
(43:05):
drive, I can, I can do thatagain.
But you know, with, as you know, I feel like okay, if I go back
and I need to drive, I can dothat again.
But you know, as you know, thepublic transportation in the UK
is so great we really really gotto go every place that we
needed to.
Let's see another one of thetrips Discover Real London Black
Cab Tours.
I think I've already ravedabout that.
But you know, our guide, ourdriver Mark, was absolutely
(43:26):
phenomenal.
He communicated with us beforewe even left the US.
He was flexible on a pickuppoint.
His enthusiasm, hisgood-natured personality.
The Caledonian Sleeper we'vetalked about that just a little
bit.
We just had not even heardabout or considered a sleeper
car until we had listened toyour episodes on it.
(43:48):
What we liked is it saved us aday of travel for approximately
what the price of a hotel roomin London would be.
But just going to sleep inEngland, waking up in Scotland,
stepping off the train inInverness which was our very
first time even setting foot inScotland and we were met there
at the gate by our dear friendBetty, who we hadn't seen in 20
(44:11):
years.
In Inverness which was our veryfirst time even setting foot in
Scotland, and we were met thereat the gate by our dear friend
Betty, who we hadn't seen in 20years.
It was really emotional.
And, yeah, the Caledoniansleeper just really set the
table for what was to come.
Yet With transportation, yeah,I just rave about the UK's
public transportation, but weuse the national rail system.
We decided to purchase aBritrail pass.
(44:32):
We costed it out and it didmake sense for us.
Even if it had been close, Ithink we would have done it
anyway, just for the convenienceof it.
I love just stepping on it onthe train.
There were a couple of timesthat when they came around to
check the tickets.
They looked at it.
One said, oh, I haven't seenone of these for a while.
And another said, oh, I'mreally not sure what to do with
this, but it was always just yep, you've got a Brit rail, there
(44:55):
you go.
So we used that a lot.
Having an Oyster card helped.
We learned about theunderground.
All the tips really reallyhelped us immensely.
Let's see Take walks.
The early access tour ofEdinburgh Castle was fantastic.
I think I've already ravedabout that enough.
(45:18):
But just having the access tothe castle before the general
public gets to get in for theday.
As we were leaving we could seelong queues lined up to get in,
but they were lined up and wewere already done for the day,
so that was great.
And then, of course, theceremony of the keys.
I hadn't heard about that atall, but definitely worth
(45:40):
including in the itinerary too.
Tracy Collins (45:43):
No, it's brilliant and I'm glad you
shared that with the listener.
So, you know, know, add thosethings into your itinerary if
you, because they're, they'reall fantastic things we we
recommend, honestly discoverreal london, the take walks,
tours to take the californiasleep, but they're all fabulous.
Now, rita, you uh added thisquestion in at the end, so I'm
going to ask this one becauseit's uh, it's a fun question.
(46:04):
So were there any humorousincidents, things that didn't go
planned or that you dodifferently?
So those are kind of, I guess,three.
Well, maybe the humorousincidents and the things that
didn't go to planned.
Are they kind of related?
Rita Fox (46:18):
Well, since I asked the question, you know I've
definitely got an answer to herefor you, but I guess I would
chalk them up to what I wouldcall good learning experiences.
I mean, things could go alittle different next time, but
you know so many of them weavoided because we listened to
you.
There was a time or two wedidn't listen to you and that
(46:41):
maybe caused us little problems.
But, for example, I think it'sreally important to have a plan
B transportation-wise.
We ended up one day at WaterlooStation.
We were trying to go someplaceelse and when I pulled up the
app, the underground line saidmajor delays.
(47:02):
They just weren't working, theyweren't going, and we found out
that it was a major poweroutage that had caused a huge
disruption.
So we had to just kind of okay,well, we're just going to go
outside and take a taxi to wherewe need to go.
We did have one thing that wasout of our control, but we
(47:22):
landed at Heathrow and I thinkit is probably referred to as a
balked landing.
It was more than just a goaround.
The plane was pitching fromleft to right very significantly
and literally a moment beforewe landed and people were
screaming.
The pilot pulled up and wedidn't land.
(47:45):
So we circled around and cameand landed a second time.
It happened so fast.
Everybody just looked at eachother, like what just happened
here.
I'm not sure, but you know,there's some things that are
really pretty much out of yourcontrol when you're traveling,
and that was certainly one ofthem.
Tracy Collins (48:04):
I'm just actually going to say to our listeners
at this point that it's a goodjob.
They can't see my face Becausewhen you were talking about that
landing, there was a look ofhorror on my face because I
don't like flying.
Even though I fly all the time,I really don't like flying.
So I would have been off forthe rest of the day.
(48:24):
After that.
I would have been like no, andI would have been one of those
people screaming Definitely.
Rita Fox (48:30):
Are you sure you weren't on the same flight?
Possibly, possibly, you wouldhave remembered, or maybe you
blocked it out one or the other.
Oh gosh, yeah, there were someother just little fun little
things that happened.
For example, we were driving inrush hour traffic in Inverness
(48:52):
and I couldn't get over to thelane in the roundabout that I
wanted to.
So I thought, okay, I'm justgoing to make a left-hand turn
here, and I ended up on a milelong bridge over the Moray Firth
and I'm sure, looking at GoogleMaps now, it's a beautiful view
over it.
I saw none of it.
There was nothing that I saw.
(49:13):
So I think that's when Idecided you know, I just am
really not enjoying this drivingthing, but you know, it was
still a good experience.
Just a few of the other littlethings.
We were going down the RoyalMile in Edinburgh you or the
other little things we weregoing down the Royal Mile in
Edinburgh and we came across StGiles Cathedral just as the
(49:33):
Sunday morning services wereending and we just saw this huge
regalia of people leaving thebuilding and we weren't sure
what was going on.
We knew the Church ofScotland's General Assembly was
meeting that week, but people inthe crowds stopped.
They pulled out their cellphone cameras and, as a woman
(49:54):
was being escorted into a limo,somebody said, oh look, it's
Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
Well turned out, it wasn't.
In fact, the closest we evergot to the Royals was at the
London's a restaurant, a pubcalled the Ship's Tavern, and
I've got a shot of Katie in thetavern in the television.
(50:17):
In back of her they wereshowing an American baseball
game between the Boston Red Soxand the Kansas City Royals.
And I'm telling you, the KansasCity Royals are not the reason
that we came to the UK, butthat's as close as we got to the
Royals.
Burl Market absolutely loved it, but I will not go there again
(50:40):
on a bank holiday weekend,saturday afternoon.
That was a mistake, even thoughthe Humble Crumble is delicious
.
I'll go there a different time.
And then, finally, we had adilemma who gets the top bunk of
the Caledonian sleeper?
Should it be the one with thevertigo issues or the one with
(51:00):
the arthritic knees?
But I have to admit that I didhear Doug talk about the top
bunk vertigo issues and I didn'tmention it to Katie ahead of
time.
She took the top bunk.
I only told her after the factbecause I didn't want to, you
know, plant any seeds in hermind.
But I did fess up, so I do oweher one.
(51:23):
In fact, the next day when wegot to Inverness, we were in the
cathedral there and there was asign.
In fact, the next day when wegot to Inverness, we were in the
cathedral there and there was asign.
And both of us looked at thesign.
That was on a stand and Katiesaid is that sign moving?
Because we were still feeling alittle bit of movement from the
train.
I said yeah, I think the sign'sactually moving.
It's not us, but I don't wantto scare the way of theedonian
(51:47):
sleeper, because it was worth it.
We did have a good time.
Tracy Collins (51:55):
But yeah, there was a little motion going on the
next day.
Honestly, doug and I have toflip a coin on that.
Who's taking the top bug?
In fact, the last time that weboth took the Caledonian sleeper
, I did it on my own and he didit on his own, so we had two to
choose from.
So we were a bit spoiled.
Oh, honestly, honestly, that'sso funny, that is great and I
know one thing you did mentionthat you you'd you'd not taken
(52:15):
doug's advice about, aboutgetting a reservation on the
train from london to edinburghor edinburgh to london.
Which way around was itprobably?
Rita Fox (52:23):
oh, from edinburgh to london, yeah we were so spoiled
with the brit rail, pass it.
It'd just show up, okay, andthe next train is leaving at
such and such time.
Just walk to walk there and geton.
But had we had to do it overagain, definitely would have
booked the train from Invernessto London.
We ended up, it was really busyand there were some seats we
(52:48):
actually sat in that like uh-oh,I think this one's reserved.
So then where did we get toYork or someplace and we had to
switch seats.
Katie got stuck in a table forfour in the window seat, going
backwards, which again is notgood for people with vertigo
issues, and I don't think any ofthe four people were interested
(53:09):
in any conversation.
So it was kind of a long tripfor her back.
But that was very minor and,like I said, very much a live
and learn thing.
Tracy Collins (53:16):
Yeah, well, I've done that and it's a bit like
musical chairs.
You just hope that nobody'sgoing to come on and take that
reserved seat.
But yeah, it's always a goodidea to reserve.
And, in fact, doug's justreleased his video on YouTube
about actually going from Londonto Edinburgh and the different
train operator options you'vegot.
So anybody who's on YouTube,pop over and check that out.
He's very proud of it.
It's his very first YouTubevideo Great, but as you know, we
(53:41):
always end the podcast with thesame question, so you're no
exception.
Really.
You are getting the question.
Finally, what would be the onetip you'd share with someone
planning a first trip to the UKfor genealogy travel.
Rita Fox (53:56):
I knew you were going to ask that question, so I do
have an answer for you.
First, could I thank a coupleof people before I answer your
question, of course, of courseyou can.
Start off, I want to reallythank you and Doug, not only for
all your tips, but just theenthusiasm that you bring to
travel.
It's very contagious and I hopeyou know how much you have
(54:17):
really helped us with our trip.
The other people I want tothank is our host in Inverness,
our lovely friend Betty, herdear friend Dave, daughter Wendy
, grandson Thomas.
They just really made us feelso welcome.
I think I've already mentionedour tour guide in London, mark,
and our tour guide at Balmoral,sally Ann.
(54:38):
Our volunteers in WorcesterCemetery, our friend Jill, who
took us to and from the airportyou know who your true friends
are when they will pick you upat the airport at odd times and,
of course, all the people atthe Family History Centers and
our newfound relatives, robertand Jillian.
(54:58):
So yeah, it just took a lot ofpeople to really make this very
special.
So thank you, tracy.
Tracy Collins (55:04):
That's lovely, that's lovely.
Thank you, rita, all right.
Rita Fox (55:09):
What would I recommend ?
It has to do with planning.
I think your listeners alreadyknow that they are in the right
place planning because they'relistening to the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
But genealogy, as I mentioned,it really requires a lot of
extra time to prepare, but it'sa fun preparation process.
(55:31):
You know, before we left we hadlots of interesting stories.
We'd made personal connectionswithout even setting foot in the
UK.
But I would recommend that, evenif you don't travel to the UK
involving genealogy, if you canfind some way to personalize
your trip to make it morerewarding maybe it's a hobby or
(55:54):
a vocation that you share withpeople in the UK If you can find
a society, a conference, justsomething to help make it a more
personal trip than simplyticking off the boxes of okay, I
saw Big Ben, nothing wrong withBig Ben, I enjoyed it but just
find some way to make it morepersonal.
And I think, finally, what Iwould say as far as the planning
(56:17):
process is that all of us needto remember that, like it or not
, we are ambassadors of our homecountries and I think if we can
focus less on bringing alongour best clothes and more upon
bringing along our best self,we'll be in good shape.
Tracy Collins (56:36):
Lovely.
That's a lovely tip and alovely sentiment.
Rita, it's been amazing talkingto you.
It's been lovely to meet you,but it's been fantastic to talk
to you today and get your tripreport.
You guys certainly had a very,very special trip and I am so
happy that you were willing tocome on and share that with us
and our many thousands oflisteners who, I'm sure, are
(56:58):
going to thoroughly enjoy thisepisode.
So thanks so much.
Thanks so much, rita, forcoming on.
Thank you, tracy.
Thanks once again to Rita forcoming on the episode this week.
It's been lovely to chat withyou and you can find links to
the places that Rita chattedabout, some of the places that
they where they stayed, andother links in the show notes
(57:20):
for this episode, which are atuktravelplanningcom.
Forward slash, episode 158.
Don't forget you can contactmyself and Doug via Speakpipe
and you can find a link to thatalso in this week's show notes.
Now that just leaves me to say,as always, until next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
(57:43):
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app.
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
(58:04):
Happy UK travel planning.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!